100 spotlights m edieval Göttingen

100 s potligh ts
on
m e d ie val Göttin ge n
by 7 th year students of
Hainberg-Gym nasium -Göttingen
Ro o m 1
Fro m Guting i to Gö tting e n
Göttingen was built in the Middle Ages, from 1150 till 1200. The founder was Henry the
Lion. Göttingen was built west of the village Gutingi and it gave the town its name. In
the beginning Gutingi wasn’t a part of Göttingen. The duke of Braunschweig-Lüneburg
was the owner. When Göttingen got its charter is not certain. In the oldest document of
1229 there is already written about citizens, burgesses.
The g ro wing to wn
The wo ol and line n trade with distant countries helped the merchants to get politicial
and financial power. For the growing town, Albrecht the Fat of Braunschweig-Lüneburg
built the new town west of the wall in 1300. There lived the wool weavers.
The inde pe nde nc e
In the 14th century the town had almost got all c ity rig hts . The town got bigger and
bigger and in the year 1387 the burgesses sent away the duke and destroyed his
duke’s castle.
The e c o no mic c ris is
In the year 1426 Göttingen became a member of
the Hanseatic League. In the late Middle Ages
Göttingen got into an economic crisis because it
didn’t get the connection to the new technology
used in England and in Flandre. In spite of very
good we avers Göttingen lost its influence and its
rich position in the wool and linen industry.
By Nikolaos Avdoulidis.
The s ilve rtre as ure (o f 1429)
The silvertreasure („Silberschatz“) was found in the cellar
of a house in the „Rote Straße“. The treasure consisted of
445 coins made of silver. A big part were “Göttingen
Körtlinge” (that’s a currency). Every town minted their own
c o ins . The coins were made of silver and their value was
equivalent to their weight. If there was a marketday, all
tradesmen had to change their coins into the Göttingen
currency. Sometimes coins from other towns had a high
purchasing power, then they got a reply stamp from the treasurer of Göttingen.
By Sophie Wüstefeld
The “Elle ”
The Elle was a measure for cloth. The length of the Elle was the
distance from the elbow to the top of the middlefinger. Each
town had their own Elle and so the measure varied, e.g. the
longest one was 81 cm and the shortest was 53 cm.
Due to these differences the towns fixed the Elle of the town at
the wall of the town hall.
Find o ut the le ng th o f the Elle o f Gö tting e n
By Irina Lawrenz
The rig hts o f the c itize ns in to wns
The towns were ruled by the mayo r and the ‘aldermen’. The aldermen were rich
merchants. They were in charge of taking in taxes, making sure the town was safe and
ruled the law court. Every year the aldermen chose a mayor among them.
In the 14th century the councils were overtaken by the citizens. A new law allowed the
craftsmen to elect the mayor, too. New rules made the life of towns people more attractive
and fair but it was still not like today. e.g. servants, beggars, clergymen, apprentices and
people who had not lived in the town for one ye ar and a day without any misbehaviour
(this was a rule for people who came to towns to start a new life there) didn’t get any city
rights at all.
By Linea Dieterich
The pillory
Punis hme nts
To be put in prison was not the usual punishment in medieval times.
There was a dungeon in the cellor of the town hall only for debtors and criminals who
stayed in there till they were found guilty or not guilty. The pillory stood in front of the town
hall and was a usual punishment (You can see one on the picture). The convicted people
were tied up with a rope to be ridiculed by everyone who passed.
.There had to be strict proof for a guilty verdict. Torture was seen as a deterrent.
To get banned from town was one of the hardest sentences.
By Hannah Hagemeyer
Military duty
In Göttingen every citizen had his duties; he had
to pay taxes and had to defend the town.
Each guild (see below) had to care for a special
section of the wall.
Every citizen carried his own weapons. Poorer
citizens had only a spear and a hatchet, the
richer carried a shield and an amour too.
The richest citizens engaged guards who fulfilled
this duty for them.
By Jakob Schlieper
Ro o m 2
Churc he s and mo nas te rie s
Be lie f and daily life
The year was structured by the great Christian
festivals like Eastern, Pentecost and Christmas.
Important dates like the vote of the council, fairs,
masses or the deadline of payments were related
to holy festivals.
Fiv e paris h c hurc he s
In the 14th century Göttingen had already five
parish churches.
Their church be lls rang to the masses and gave
the signal to open and close the town gate and for
the beginning and ending of the work.
Every parish church was responsible for one
special part of town. The dead people were buried
on the church yard around the church. Because poverty was a big problem in the
towns, the church took over the providing and care of needy people.
The parish churches and their church yards were also place of meetings and
sometimes trade.
Mo nas te rie s
In Göttingen there were monasteries of the two be g ging o rde rs of the Franciscans
and the Dominicans. At the end of the late middle ages the convent St. Annen was
founded. Unmarried daughters of citizens lived in this Franciscan convent.
By Nele Lönneker
Writing
Parchment and paper were rare in the Middle Ages. They were used only for
books which had a cover of leather or for documents. Parchment is very thin
scraped animal skin. They wrote on parchment
with a feather and ink.
For notes, writing exercises and lists they used
wax bo ards . Letters were carved into the wax
with a stili and could be eased with its flat side.
The tablets were often bound together to small
books (not very practical).
In the 14th century the council of Göttingen
even wrote important chapters of the city
charter on wax tablets. They still exist.
Common spelling did not exist, you wrote the
word as you heard it. So it is sometimes difficult to read the texts today, because
people in the Middle Ages spoke Middle German and wrote in Gothic writing.
Try to w rite s o me thing o n a w ax b o ard
By Julian Fleckenstein
Ro o m 3
Guilds
Me rc hants
The rich merchants belonged to the high society. The merchants were organized in
trade g uilds , and had their headquarters in the townhall. On market days the
merchants sold their goods in the town hall. The most important goods were c loth
and other luxury goods like spices, jewellery and exotic food. The trade connection of
the Göttingen merchants reached from Brügge and Antwerp in the west to Reval and
Nowgorod at the east. From the 13th century trade and craft in town were closely
connected. The merchants gave materials to the craftmen and sold their products
By Hannah Hagemeyer
The fo lding s c ale
The folding scale was used for weighing the goods and
set the amount of silver coins for them. Sometimes
coins were quarterd or halved to get the right weight.
Each city had its own currency and they traded it with
other town currencies as well. This type of scale was
often used by far trade merchants on their journeys and
for changing money.
By Jana Kehr
Blo c k and tac kle
The Block and tackle was made in Braunschweig in the
year 1539 by Cord Mente.
You need a block and tackle if you want to get heavy
things into a house, e.g. clay tiles up to the roof. In a block
and tackle are many whe e ls and a ro pe , which runs over
the wheels, A block and tackle helped to reduce the force
needed or lifting heavy things up to eight times
This block and tackle was used at the town hall, because
it’s very elaborate.There are many carved figures on it e.g.
lions.
At a simple house the block and tackle had only one
wheel.
Crafts me n
Like the merchants the craftsmen belonged to guilds because the guilds could
represent their interests in the town. Every guild had a “guild-o rde r”. The guild-order
settled how many masters, journeymen and goods were in a guild and the prices of
the goods. The guild-order was made to avoid the competition among the same
group of craftsmen. If you didn´t belong to a guild, you were not allowed to practise
your trade. The workshops could only be leafed to the wives and their children. The
most respected craftmen were the shoemakers, then the bakers, the weavers, the
tailors and the smiths. The butchers had a special position.
Ro o m 4
Clo the s
To make or sell clothes was the most important economic factor in medieval
Göttingen, because you got much money for such materials.
Wo o l and line n clothes were sold to other countries, too. Clothes mades of wool
were really warm and weatherproof.
In the 14th century other ideas about material came to Göttingen, e.g. from Italy.
People liked these colourful and shiny materials such as silk and velvet.
Those people who could buy such noble material and clothes were well off.
The fashion of clothes changed because of French influences. The dresses got
more colourful and stylish.
The council made a law and tried to control the colour and style of the citizens’
clothes - without success!
by Nora Krügel
Clo the s and dre s s e s
Later clothes from Göttingen were brought to far away countries by far trade
merchants. They traded noble materials e.g. flowel-material, silk or velvet,too.
If you had good clothes and expensive material you got much credit.
Children were dressed like adults, but the dress code of Göttingen urged the parents
not to dress their children too sophisticated.
Try o n a c ap e , a c ap , a b e lt and s ho e s and hav e y o ur p ic ture take n
by Marlene Hamann
Ro o m 5
Ho us e and kitc he n
Cooking, living and working took place in one room till the end of the Middle ages.
Only rich people were able to hold an own house. Servant girls, farmhands and
apprentices lived in their master’s household.
About the half of the population lived in big poverty.
These people lived in sleazy cabins at the edge of the town.
The S to v e
The stove was an unsealed ditch in the floor.
Grains were ground with the quern.
The dishes were kept in a basket.
Try to g rind s o m e g rains
Nutritio n
People in medieval towns produced most food themselves.
Vegetables and grains were cultivated near the town.
Small animals like pigs staffed the roads.
Drinks
The water quality was bad in town. Well and sewer were in most cases close to each
other.
People drank beer and vine. The people in Göttingen brewed t
mselves.
Vine was imported from France. Juices, whey and milk were favoured drinks.
Meat wasn’t on the daily menu.
By Harriet Finn and Lilian Mühlberg
Ro o m 6
Game s and To ys
Medieval people loved to play games. Everyone – the
adults and the children.
The adults played board or dice games and many
people got into debts because of that. Some people
even tried to play with marked dice.
They played tactical games like Nine Men’s Morris and
Alquerque (it’s called draughts nowadays).
Their boards were often painted on the floor or on the
tables. Chess was mostly played by noblemen.
Medieval children had toys, too.
They liked to play with dolls, balls, marbles and many other things of all kinds of
material. They imitated the adults at role plays.
When they were seven years old they didn’t have a lot of time for playing anymore
because children of poorer people had to work. Wealthier parents like rich merchants
sent their children, mostly boys, to a school in a convent.
Yo u g e t a g ame b o ard , c ard s and d ic e at the c as h re g is te r o f the mus e um
Play the g ame !
By Ronja Steinmetz and Nina Lutze